


Whumpmasinjuly Day 6: Water

by Yesimevil



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Day 6: water, FUCK, Flashbacks, Fuck tumblr, Gen, PTSD, Panic Attacks, Whumpmasinjuly, anyway here’s wonderwall, im posting this here because APPARENTLY TUMBLR HAS A WORD LIMIT
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:34:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25110220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yesimevil/pseuds/Yesimevil
Summary: The Hargreeves go to the beach and Diego doesn’t have a fun time
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves & siblings
Comments: 1
Kudos: 69





	Whumpmasinjuly Day 6: Water

**Author's Note:**

> I’m the best a summeries

_“Number Two, I insist you complete the experiment,” Reginald bellowed. Diego shook head to toe, painfully coughing up water in front of the tank._

_“P-p-please Sir, I-I-I-”_

_“How many times must I tell you, I cannot understand you with that useless stutter!” He snapped. He marched across the room, grabbing a rope they lay sinisterly in a table. “I am afraid this calls for extreme measures,” he sighed. Diego was quick to understand what was about to happen._

_“S-sir, I-I’ll- I’ll do it, I- please, I-”_

_“Stop your sniveling. Number One doesn’t plead pathetically,” Reginald sniffed, wrapping the rope around Diego’s wrists and head and threading it through metal rings in the bottom of the tank. Diego’s breathing quickened as he struggled against the ropes._

_“Now, again.” He was dragged under, his lungs screaming and his heart pounding as he tried to get free, tried to breathe-_

“Catch!” A beachball bounced off Diego’s face, slamming him back to the present. He took a sharp breath and threw a glare at Allison, who had the sense to look slightly apologetic.

“Sorry!” She called out, not sounding sorry at all. Diego gripped the ball, resisting the urge to rip it in half. 

“You’re not supposed to throw things at people,” he grumbled. Allison raised an eyebrow, shifting her weight to one leg.

“Says the person who throws _knives_ at people. And I did say ‘catch.’ Can I have it back?”

“Whatever,” he gritted out, throwing the ball back. He watched as she ran off to the ocean with it, yelling something to Vanya about turning it into a sand bomb.

They were on a “family vacation” at the beach. Vanya had almost caused an apocalypse- _almost_ being the key word. How many people could say their sister almost caused the apocalypse? Allison had suggested a family vacation for some “bonding time” and he didn’t want to go but Vanya had looked at him with such big eyes and _fuck_ , he was never good at refusing her.

So they were at the beach. Surrounded by sand. Itchy, gritty, sticks-to-everything-and-gets-in-your-pants-and-makes-you-want-to-die sand. Diego glared at everything and nothing, firmly planting himself by the umbrella. He supposed the ocean did look beautiful- especially that morning, when the sun had struck the water and gold washed up on the sand and seemed to stay there, a mirror of the breathtaking sky- however, he was surrounded by three things he hated; water, his family, and sand.

“Hey, Ben says you’re not doing so good,” Klaus said as he drifted by, his concern poorly veiled by indifference. 

“I’m fine,” Diego snapped with too much ferocity, glaring into the air surrounding Klaus. Count on him to spy on others. Klaus stared at him in clear disbelief. Diego swallowed hard and forced a smile onto his face.

“Really, I’m fine.” It was almost scary how easily the lie slipped off his tongue. Klaus shrugged and drifted away, muttering something to Ben. Diego wrapped his arms around his legs and dropped his head onto his knees, settling back to his stare down with the ocean, trying to avoid thinking. He had avoided water for so long, only to be thrown at its feet. Did he even know how to swim? The experiments never required him to swim, just to... drown. A shudder ran through him as he unwillingly remembered his pleas falling on uncaring ears, the feeling of water in his lungs.

“Hey-” he jumped as Five suddenly appeared in front of him, _the little shit._

“Does everyone have something against me just sitting peacefully?” Diego grumbled, trying to get his heart rate under control. Five rolled his eyes.

“You’re the only one not in the ocean and you look like a dumbass for it. Get in or I’ll drop you in,” he said simply. Diego wasn’t fooled. Not matter how hard Five tried to keep himself detached, Diego could see the worry in his eyes and it annoyed him to no extent _why couldn’t he just stay here?_

“Besides, Vanya’s been looking your way a bit wistfully,” Five remarked casually. Diego gritted his teeth. It was a dirty move to drag Vanya in and Five knew it. 

“Fine,” he spat out finally, “fine. I’ll go into the fucking ocean.” He marched down to the water, not even hearing the delighted exclamations from his siblings as he approached. His vision seemed to narrow with each step, until he splashed into the water. He took a deep breath. It was a bit cold, but other than that it seemed... fun. He could feel himself relax and the scowl slip from his face as he realized that _he could do this._

“Hey,” he heard from beside him. He turned to see Vanya looking up at him almost shyly, a happy glow on her face.

“I’m glad you got in,” she said with a soft smile. Diego returned the smile, reaching down and squeezing her hand on a sudden impulse.

Klaus was quick to challenge Allison to a chicken fight, using Diego as his seat while Allison used Luther for hers.

“What are the rules on drowning the other player’s ladder?” Diego asked, only half joking. Five adamantly declared it should be legal and Vanya shoved him into the next wave.

“I’ll let you know the consequences after I find out,” Luther shot back, a smile in his eyes.

“It’s on,” Diego promised with a smirk as Allison and Klaus took their places.

“Three... two... one... GO!” Vanya yelled. It was a fierce battle, but ultimately Allison won. Unfortunately in his defeat, Klaus didn’t unwrap his legs from Diego, dragging him under the water. A cold panic seized Diego, throwing him back to the “experiments” and he couldn’t move, the ropes keeping him from escaping, _he couldn’t breathe, he was going to die here-_

Someone was pulling him out, dragging him, laying him down on something gritty- _sand_ , his mind registered, remembering where he was. Voices were dancing around his head, speaking to him, too muffled to make any sense. He flipped over and crawled a few feet, collapsing on his knees with his head hanging pathetically, struggling to breathe against the flashes of memories that assaulted him. 

“Diego, what’s wrong? What happened?” Someone was lifting his head gently. _Allison_ , her warm eyes filled with worry- he hated worrying people.

“I-I’m- I’m fine,” he protested, his words slightly slurred as clambered to his feet and tried to stagger away to lick his wounds in peace. Five materialized in front of him, blocking his path.

“That’s a bunch of bullshit,” he said calmly, a certain fire behind his eyes. Diego growled and tried to swing at him, missing and almost falling again as Five poofed away. Luther caught him before he landed face first in the sand, lowering him gently into a sitting position.

“It was... Dad, wasn’t it?” He asked softy. Diego swallowed hard, running a hand over his hair- it was wet, everything was wet, _fuck, he hated water-_

“Diego,” his head snapped up with a scowl. Luther smiled, but it was far too sad. “You’re shaking.” Diego looked down at his arm and saw that it was trembling like a leaf in the wind. He wrenched his arm out of Luther’s grasp, curling into himself.

“Fine,” he spat out after a moment, “yeah, it w-was- it was Dad. _Fuck,_ ” he dropped his face into his hands, taking a shuddering breath. “He- _experimented_ to s-see if I- how long I- I could hold m-my b-b-breath and- and-” 

“Hey, it’s okay,” Allison slipped next to him, gently wrapping her arms around him. Diego didn’t pull away, clinging to her arm like a lifeline. 

“Family group hug!” Klaus suggested, and they all shuffled in a bit awkwardly, wrapping themselves around Diego. At any other time Diego would have felt trapped, but... maybe he didn’t hate them as much as he thought.

**Author's Note:**

> Was this worth it? Probably not.


End file.
